ONGC had inked gas sale agreements (GSAs) with GAIL India and Assam Gas Company (AGCL) to monetise its upcoming field in Khubal in North Tripura district, an official said on Saturday.

Under the agreement, GAIL and AGCL would receive 50,000 standard cubic metre of gas each from Khubal Gas Gathering Station (GGS), he said.

Once it started production, Khubal would be the tenth producing field of ONGC in Tripura. Khubal GGS would have a capacity to process 0.44 mmscms (4,40,000 standard cubic meters) of gas, for which the process of construction had already been started, he added.

“It marks a momentous occasion not just for ONGC, GAIL and AGCL but for the people of North-East as well as it means more gas will find its way into industries and people’s homes, positively impacting living standards,” said Tarun Malik, the asset manager of ONGC Tripura.

“The GSA for gas produced from wells of Khubal means more than just another step in the relationship between ONGC and GAIL. It means the increasing integration of the region with the rest of the country,” said R Choudhury, the CGM and zonal head of GAIL.

GSA is an important milestone in the lifecycle of any gas business, signifying commerciality for producers, like ONGC, while ensuring the product reaches the end consumers through marketing and transportation intermediaries, such as GAIL and AGCL.

The Khubal gas field was expected to start production in 2024 in line with the commissioning of the Indra Danush Gas Grid Line (IGGL) pipeline, a critical and massive infrastructure project for the North-East region’s gas sector, officials said.